Fungi as environmental bioindicators.

Environmental bioindicators are species or communities of animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, algae, lichens, and planktons whose existence, quantity, and nature can be used to make inferences on the quality of the environment. Bioindicators can be used to detect environmental contaminants by on-site visual inspections or through laboratory analysis. Fungi are one of the most important groups of environmental bioindicators due to their ubiquitous distribution, diverse ecological roles, remarkable biological diversity, and high sensitivity to environmental changes.